I first realised I was losing my hearing about 10, maybe 14 years ago. It started on a course where I discovered that I couldn’t hear the tutor at the front of the room. Okay I was at least 15 feet from her, but even so, a couple of years before it hadn’t been an issue.
As time progressed I noticed that any situation in which I was in a hall or auditorium was somewhere between difficult and lost on me, but not all situations. There were some television programmes I couldn’t hear,
some people I had to ask to keep repeating, but it didn’t significantly affect my life. It wasn’t until I started answering the wrong questions, and met with the frustration and eye rolling, that it really hit me how much I was struggling.
The fact is that you don’t realise how bad your hearing is getting for several very good reasons, one being that there’s a significant difference in hearing between when you’re relaxed and stressed or tense. I did an event and couldn’t
hear anyone from the stage who was trying to ask me questions, yet in bed that night my partner turned away and lowered their voice, and said that I answered everything they said. It was confusing, did I have a hearing problem or not? When you’re faced with a spend of thousands of pounds that’s a question you really need the right answer to.
My first hearing test did not deliver the right answer. I was told that I had up to 25% of my hearing missing in both ears, and to go away for 3 years and see how I got on. Which was all well and good but I was still struggling, and people were struggling with me!
